Celebrity Photos Leaked: What Are the Internet Experts Saying?

Next up on the celebrity internet nudity line-up are TV stars from Coronation Street, Sally Lindsay and Catherine Tyldesley, as well as Melanie Sykes, TV and radio presenter.

These celebs are feared to have had their iCloud accounts hacked, as photos and videos, including several explicit snaps and clips, have been leaked to X-rated sites.

In 2017, 2016 and beyond, celebrities, many world famous, who have had their private images and videos leaked have been Sienna Miller, Miley Cyrus, Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst, Kaley Cuoco, Scarlett Johansson, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, and many more.

Claire Stead at online safety company Smoothwall told Lawyer Monthly: “The harsh truth is, no matter who you are – whether a qualified accountant, a local government or a NHS trust – you’re likely to be a target for hackers in some form or another. In this case, it is celebrities who have been targeted, with hackers releasing private photos of themselves to an ‘X-rated’ website. While this won’t rile many like it did with the NHS hack a few weeks ago, it proves that threat actors are intent on causing chaos and distress wherever they can, often without any financial incentive to do so.

“The photos seem to have come about as a result of a hack on the celebrities’ iClouds, a cloud service that has been targeted before but can be bolstered by extra protection: two-factor authentication so you receive a notification when you access a device for the first time, changing your password regularly, using a password manager and checking your logged in devices.

“Once a photo is released on the public domain by someone other than yourself, it can prove extremely difficult to get it taken down again. By taking preventative action now, people can protect themselves from the advances of hackers’ intent on doing them harm. Similarly, businesses and organisations should also be taking measures to prevent any unwanted cyberattacks on their systems, should it compromise their customer data. Companies must have a multi-layered security defence which spans encryption, firewalls, web filtering and ongoing threat monitoring as well as a proactive stance.”